World Breaker (Campaign)
The World Breaker plot was an event that would forever go down in history as the time Arsinos nearly faced total destruction at the hands of Ruaumoko, the god of earthquakes and volcanoes. It also featured a twisted 'battle of wits' between Sethos and Sodney Masher. Ultimately, however, it was the New Avengers who served as the frontline saviours of Arsinos. World Breaker can be thought of as 'season two' of the Arsinos Avengers, with season one being Rise of the Machine God. How it began... It began with a plane crash. Following the discovery of the Blasted Lands (located in the New World in northern Arsinos), an electrical storm caused a commercial plane to crash in the desolate plains. The only survivors were a small group of everyday civilians. As they tried to find a way out of the crash site they discovered a series of caves. One of these contained Ptomley's Gate, a large circular structure. Thorn, the Sethian Operative, was already there - a fight broke out, and one of Thorn's electrical attacks struck the Gate. The Gate then lashed out out the crash survivors, linking their souls together and activating the path into Outland. The everyday survivors were turned into superheroes, each being given a power, by the Gate. Sethos found the group after this. He explained that their powers would kill them soon, and that only one scientist in the world had the knowledge by which to save them. This scientist, however, was currently a prisoner in Loveshack. The group flew to the prison and broke the scientist, Dr. Yedsem, out of prison. They were attacked in the process by Ceph, including a particularly dangerous gunslinger called Flintlock. Luckily, however, the group were able to defeat Flintlock and escape with Dr. Yedsem alive. When they returned to Devil's Crag, however, Sethos revealed that the group were now wanted criminals. In addition, the scientist they had saved was none other than Sodney Masher - former king of Dog Bollock and international super villain. The group, realising they had been lied to be Sethos, began to distrust him. With nowhere else to go, the group (who Thorn had casually called the New Avengers) were forced to remain in Devil's Crag until Sethos figured out how to 'clear their names'. Enter the 'Ceph' Meanwhile, the situation in Outland grew tense. The current power there, a race known as the Ceph, allowed the new colonies from Arsinos to settle in but did so dis-trustfully. They claimed to worship something called the World Breaker. According to their historians, the Gate to Outland was opened thousands of years ago. Colonists from Arsinos went to Outland back then, as they have done now, but the Gate closed behind them and they became trapped. In their panic, the colonists broke out into separate factions and a bloody war began for control of Outland. Then came a force of nature known as the World Breaker, which supposedly 'massacred armies in their hundreds of thousands.' The World Breaker's wrath may have killed millions, but his wrath 'saved' the colonies from further war. The survivors, who called themselves the Ceph, fell into worship of the World Breaker. They rebuilt Outland as the World Breaker went dormant, and have maintained balance there until the arrival of the new colonists. Escape from Devil's Crag Meanwhile, back at Devil's Crag, the New Avengers grew restless in Devil's Crag. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Still, no sign of any progress came - the New Avengers felt increasingly like they were prisoners, and Sethos gave them no answers. Restless, some of the group decided to take matters into their own hands and visited Sodney Masher for answers. Reluctantly, and only by being 'sneaky', they eventually learnt the truth of their situation. Sethos feared a war between the Ceph and Arsinos. Worse, he feared the 'World Breaker' was a real threat that could destroy both worlds. He had discovered that, by executing the New Avengers, Ptomley's Gate would collapse and destroy Outland completely, thereby destroying the World Breaker as well. He was only keeping the New Avengers alive so he could wait for the right moment to kill them. He was willing to sacrifice every person in Outland in order to save Arsinos. A deal which Masher claimed was 'immoral' - even by his standards. Masher also revealed that Sethos' operative, Thorn, was in fact his ignorant son - his true heir and rightful king of Amun-Seth. In fact, Sethos' entire existence was a fragment of Masher's mind that splintered during the Dog Bollock days - Sethos was the literal embodiment of Masher's 'guilt'. Masher planned to have the New Avengers escape. After a daring escape mission, Masher implored the New Avengers help - he sent them to Outland, to discover what the World Breaker was, what threat it truly posed and find a way to defeat it that didn't involve destroying the whole of Outland! Infiltrating Deadmines The New Avengers made progress on their mission - they avoided dangerous creatures and bad weather, eventually arriving at the Deadmines. There, they infiltrated a Blacklight mine and made an interesting discovery - some of Masher's old tech, an army of squid-like machines, had been discovered in Outland by the Ceph. They were trying desperate to activate it using Blacklight, but all attempts so far had failed. It seemed that the Ceph were as afraid of the World Breaker as Sethos was… The infiltration went slightly wrong, however. Following a short battle, Flintlock was killed by one of the New Avengers. The group also attempted to kidnap and interrogate Ellen J. Hunter, the 'leader' of the Ceph, but they accidentally killed her too! Two events that, together, could have dire consequences. Masher warned them of their mistake, but also recommended they visit Stonetalon City next. After stealing a sample of Blacklight, they made their way. Thorn's Plight As tensions between the Arsinos colonies on Outland and the Ceph increased into full blown war, the New Avengers headed to the Shaderian city of Geat to steal a boat. However, once there, they were ambushed by Thorn. The Operative beat them senseless for a while before eventually giving in due to mental exhaustion. After a brief confrontation, Thorn was brought into contact with the Blacklight sample it gave him a vision of Sethos' true intentions - his desire to destroy all of Outland in order to save Arsinos. Thorn, disgusted, realised that Masher really was his father and left, unable to bare the truth. The World Breaker Revealed When the New Avengers finally arrived in Stonetalon City, they were met with Masher. The fallen king took them to an old cave where they were met by a strange old tribal woman. She was eventually revealled to be an apiration, and quite possible a projected personification of mother nature herself. The Mother revealed the World Breaker was actually an elemental deity called Rauamoko. Tens of thousands of years ago, she explained, Arsinos was populated by a civilisation almost identical to the current one. It, like ours, discovered nuclear weapons and began using them to destroy each other, and the world itself. In response, Rauamoko was created as a direct side-effect to the nuclear war laying waste to the planet. Rauamoko proceeded to begin wiping out the nations of this civilisation to 'rebalance' nature. Unable to defeat, this ancient civilisation instead created the world of Outland to serve as a prison for Ruaumoko. Their plan suceeded, and Ruaumoko became locked away for tens of thousands of years. In his imprisonment he grew mad with rage, and now seeks to return to Arsinos and exact his revenge on the world that imprisoned him. As the New Avengers were revealed this information, Rauamoko himself awoke from dormancy. He climbed from Blackrock Mountain and began laying waste to the Ceph, slaughtering them in their thousands. With Masher by their side, the New Avengers decided to go to the Citadel in order to use Ceph technology (either by asking or taking it) to reverse Ptomley's Gate and, hopefully, trap the World Breaker once again. Or, maybe, even destroy him. The Battle at the Citadel Once the New Avengers arrived at the Citadel, they walked into a trap set by Sethos. The Lord of Amun-Seth was still convinced that destroying Outland was the best and safest way to kill the World Breaker - and only by killing the New Avengers could this be done. After 'negotiations' broke down, the group were eventually rescued by Thorn. There was brutal battle between the Steel Tide and the New Avengers (plus Thorn), which ended when Thorn tackled Sethos off of the Citadel and sent him falling (presumably) to his death. Masher had developed a plan, but before he could explain it the World Breaker himself arrived. The group barely escaped being vaporised in an instant, and the World Breaker destroyed the Citadel. The group decided that they could potentially use Ptomley's Gate to destroy the World Breaker, by sucking him into it and then destroying it. However, they needed a Blacklight Core in order to overcharge the Gate. Masher made an agreement of unknown nature with AAC, and the group (along with Solomon & Cayden Masher) began making their way to the city of Thialia. Meanwhile, the World Breaker began flying south-east, heading straight for Ptomley's Gate... The Battle of Thialia Whilst Ruaumoko began laying waste of Outland in an attempt to enter Arsinos, the New Avengers were still underway to Thialia. Upon their arrival, they found the city mostly deserted - many cities had been evacuated following Ruaumoko's return, especially after the damage he recently caused to the Shaderian city of Terminus. Once in the cities center, they met up with Violet Bloodstone - she handed over the Blacklight Core, giving the team everything they needed to beat Ruaumoko. However, Ruaumoko must have known of their plan somehow - he attacked the city as the exchange was taking place, laying waste to dozens of skyscrapers and causing untold destruction. The group made a break for the runway, but Ruaumoko tried to stop them. Draven managed to distract the dragon for a short time with a motorcycle, though barely escaped with his life intact. On the runway, the team were finally corner by Ruaumoko - but they were saved by Violet Bloodstone at the last second when she shot the collossal dragon in the eye. Juana provided further distractions whilst the others took the Blacklight Core onto the jet and escaped, setting a flight path of Ptomley's Gate. Hail to the King In the final showdown, the group were ambushed at Ptomley's Gate by Sethos. All attempts to reason with the lord of Amun-Seth failed - he was so obsessed with his desire to 'make up' for Masher's crimes that no price (even every living person in Outland) had become too high, showing the true soul destroying nature danger of guilt. A deadly battle broke out with Sethos, in which the lord of Amun-Seth mostly seemed to have the upper hand. Even a combined attack by all of the group failed to kill him. Doc's healing was used fairly early, and the group would have surely perished were it not for the arrival of Ruaumoko - who intended to finally enter the portal in Arsinos. Juana was the one who acted - she picked Sethos up and dropped him into the path of the rampaging dragon. Ruaumoko vaporised Sethos, killing him instantly. As Ruaumoko turned to the Gate, Masher activated his plan... however, it turned out he had double crossed the others! Instead of destroying Ruaumoko, Masher briefly absorbed his powers. He then used them to take the New Avengers powers from them and stated his intention to reclaim the throne of Amun-Seth, becoming King Masher once again. Some of the group were outraged - others seemed not to care, wishing only to return home. The king left through he portal, with the prince of Amun-Seth (Cayden) by his side. The story ended. Aftermath Upon his return to Amun-Seth, King Masher transfered the Ruaumoko into the Blacklight Core, which became the Orb - a powerful artifact that held both the spirit of Ruaumoko and the New Avenger's powers. He began training Cayden to rule, starting by placing him in the UNGA. The full extent of Cayden's pyschological damage was yet to truely be seen, though... The world(s) breathed a sigh of relief as Ruaumoko disappeared. The true nature of his defeat was never truely discovered. The general public assumed that the Avengers were the ones who defeated him, though. A documentry is currently being made naming them the heroes of Arsinos. The New Avengers, meanwhile, went their seperate ways. Betrayed, backstabbed and lost, many fell into deep depression and had serious PTSD to deal with. Others tried to re-adjust to civilian life, but failed. Some just couldn't go back to their normal life and sought chaos, raiding and causing criminal damage. Without their powers, they were nothing. To the public, they became known as The Outlaws - a group of misfits and criminals, and nothing more. Someone, however, had their eye on the team... their story would not end here. It was only the beginning of their journey. Missions In chronological order: *World Breaker: Prelude *Escape from Devil's Crag *Hunt for the World Breaker *The Liberation of Ellen Hunter *Thorn's Plight *Fall of the Ceph *The Battle of Thialia *Hail to the King Category:Campaigns